STANLEY CUP: Bruins' Rask still out to prove doubters wrong

Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask has his eyes on the puck during practice at TD Garden in Boston, Monday, June 10, 2013. The Bruins are preparing to face the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL hockey Stanley Cup finals with Game 1 scheduled for Wednesday in Chicago. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

CHICAGO — Inevitably, Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask was going to be one of the darlings of Stanley Cup Finals Media Day. But curious comments by a Chicago Tribune columnist ensured he’d have a few extra people around him on Tuesday afternoon at the United Center.

In a video interview posted two days earlier, Steve Rosenbloom offered the following on Rask: “I can’t believe Tuukka Rask is that good. He’s just not that good. This might turn out to be the best run of his career. I just don’t think he’s that good.”

It doesn’t seem like the Bruins will be picking up the Chicago Tribune any time soon during their visit to the Windy City.

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“For anyone to say he’s not that good, maybe that’s their personal opinion, but you can always go back to stats,” said Boston center Rich Peverley. “And his stats have proven that (wrong) throughout the year and the playoffs. He’s played extremely well up until this point, and there’s no reason to think he won’t keep that up now.”

This is, of course, the same goaltender who allowed only two goals in a four-game sweep of the heavily favored Pittsburgh Penguins and leads the National Hockey League with a .943 save percentage this postseason. Nevertheless, the first shot has been fired by Chicago.

But Rask, in answering a question about Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford, deflected that away too.

“I guess he’s pretty good,” he said. “He’s here, right?”

He is, and to be sure, Crawford’s no slouch either, as his 1.74 goals against average leads Rask by .01 for the best mark in the playoffs. But the 26-year-old Finnish sensation is still the hottest goaltender out of the two right now, and while it remains to be seen whether the Blackhawks will be able to solve him once the series kicks off at 8 p.m. on Wednesday night, they were left to answer questions on just how they might accomplish the task on Rask.

“I think he’s one of the best young goalies in the league today,” said Chicago winger Viktor Stalberg. “I think he was kind of in the shadow there with Tim Thomas playing for them, but he was kind of in the same situation that Cory Schneider was in for a while. But Tim Thomas is doing something else this year, and I think (Rask) really got the opportunity to be the number one and he’s been great. He’s a great goaltender; we’re going to have our hands full trying to beat him.”

So how, exactly, does one do just that? Well, some Blackhawks offered more than others.

“I don’t know,” blurted out a smug Brent Seabrook.

“I think it’s just putting a lot of pucks on net,” said Brandon Bollig. “He’s a big, athletic goaltender and he’s the catalyst there in the defensive department. We have to crash the net there...we have the skill to get by him, and that’s what we’re looking to do.

Stalberg added: “It’s just like (facing Jonathan) Quick, you’ve got to get bodies in front of him, that’s the recipe. Look at some of the Pittsburgh games, they were missing guys (in front) and trying to be a little too fancy and make too many plays around him. If he sees the puck, he’s going to be pretty successful.”

But perhaps the best perspective comes from within Boston’s own locker room. Little-known forward Kaspars Daugavins changed that status, albeit briefly, with a creative shootout move against Rask while he was a member of the Ottawa Senators earlier this season.

Daugavins, who was acquired by Boston on waivers later in the year, skated from center ice with the toe of his blade pushing downwards onto the top of the puck, and he then attempted a spin-o-rama move unlike anything Denis Savard ever tried, but was somehow thwarted by Rask, who just managed to get his pad on the puck before it crossed the goal line.

“Well, I didn’t try to like make the move just to get famous for doing some stupid move,” Daugavins said with a smile. “It worked before. I thought it might work again.

“Actually, Tuukka made a great save against me. He pulled his foot out of nowhere. I thought it was going to go in...playing with him now, he’s such a competitor. He’s a big, tall guy and really athletic. He loves winning, you can see that in practice; he hates to be scored on, even then.”